Album Reviews

Review: Archie Shepp & Jason Moran’s ‘Let My People Go’

Albert Murray once noted that “the blues is not the creation of a crushed-spirited people [but rather] the product of…

4 years ago

Review: Dave Brubeck’s ‘Time OutTakes’ and Bill Evans ‘Live at Ronnie Scott’s’

Dave Brubeck and Bill Evans were the twin Great White Hopes of jazz piano at the apex of the Pax…

4 years ago

Review: Joe Lovano Trio Tapestry’s ‘Garden of Expression’

Neo-traditionalists like Wynton Marsalis and Stanley Crouch have long desired the classification of “jazz” as “America’s classical music.” While this…

4 years ago

Moor Mother and billy woods’ ‘Brass’

The first song on BRASS (Backwoodz Studioz, 2020), “Furies”, was the beginning of something special. Although Moor Mother and billy…

4 years ago

Review: Brandee Younger & Dezron Douglas’ ‘Force Majeure’

Black’s Law Dictionary (8th ed.) defines force majeure as “an event that can be neither anticipated nor controlled.” A party…

4 years ago

Review: Susan Alcorn’s ‘Pedernal’

Geography isn’t destiny, but it might explain some things about pedal steel guitarist Susan Alcorn and her new release, Pedernal…

4 years ago

Review: Keith Jarrett’s ‘Budapest Concert’

On January 24, 1975, Keith Jarrett sat, in pain, at the keys of a decrepit and horribly out-of-tune piano. The…

4 years ago

Review: EYOT’s ‘557799’

American musicians have been experimenting with Balkan-esque rhythms since at least 1959 when Dave Brubeck brought the 2 + 2…

4 years ago

Review: Emi Makabe’s ‘Anniversary’

The title cut of Emi Makabe's debut full-length release, Anniversary (Greenleaf Music, 2020), is a graceful, bittersweet waltz about the…

4 years ago

Review: Small Bills’ ‘Don’t Play It Straight’

Ten tracks into E L U C I D's Valley of Grace (Backwoodz Studioz, 2017), the rapper declared that "nothing's…

4 years ago